PASSOVER
When Do We Partake of the Bread and the Cup (Wine)?

March 04 , 2007 | Written by Felicia A. Trecek.

From Green's Interlinear Bible, 1 Corinthians 11:23-25 reads: 
(v:23) "For I received from the Lord what also I delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread;" (v:24) "and giving thanks He broke and said, 'Take, eat; this is My body which broken on behalf of you; this do for remembrance of Me.' " (v:25) "In the same way the cup also, after supper, saying, 'This cup is the New Covenant in My blood; as often as you drink, do this for remembrance of Me.' "

THREE MAIN FACTS extracted from 1 Corinthians 11:23-25 are the following:

1) Paul was told about partaking of the bread and the cup directly from Messiah. (Paul wasn't present with Messiah and His disciples during the actual event.) Paul personally learned and received the mandated information from Messiah and delivered the same mandate to the Corinthians concerning the bread and wine.

2) Messiah specifically communicated to Paul that THE NIGHT HE WAS BETRAYED Messiah took the bread and the cup.

3) We are mandated to do likewise - partake of the bread and the cup the NIGHT HE WAS BETRAYED in remembrance of Him (Messiah).

Messiah made sure that He told Paul WHEN He broke bread and gave the cup. He did it during the night when He was betrayed by Judas Iscariot (Matt 10:4). And, Messiah commanded that we do likewise in remembrance of Him. The timing of WHEN Messiah took the bread and cup is obviously important. If the timing was not important, Messiah wouldn't have included that piece of information when He informed Paul of the event. Additionally, Paul obviously believed the timing was important because he informed the Corinthian church exactly when the event occurred.

Hence, we should eat the bread and drink of the cup during the exact same night He/Messiah did which is the night that He was betrayed - every year.

IMPORTANT BACKGROUND FACTS
There was a Passover timing controversy in Messiah's day according to historical records. Additionally, the biblical accounts demonstrate this controversy. Notice: Messiah specifically said that He would eat the Passover with His disciples in Matthew 26:17-20, Mark 14:12-17, and Luke 22:7-16. However, John 18:28 informs us that the Jewish leaders who led Messiah to the palace had not eaten the Passover yet. The event recorded in John 18:28 occurred AFTER Messiah ate the Passover with his disciples the evening/night before.

Before Paul's conversion, he was a Pharisee. And, the Pharisees (most, if not all) observed a late 14th/15th Passover. Hence, it is highly possible that Paul use to observe a late 14th/early 15th Passover. Based upon this fact, now notice that Messiah did not say to Paul, "take of the bread and the cup during Passover." The word Passover is absent in 1 Corinthians 11:23-25.

Messiah made a clear distinction between the two evenings. If Messiah would have told Paul to partake of the bread and wine during Passover, it is possible that Paul would have thought to partake of it during the late 14th day hours and early 15th hours. Regardless what Paul might or might not have thought, the FACT remains that Messiah specifically told Paul that He broke the bread and gave the cup during the night that He was betrayed. And, we are to do likewise in remembrance of Him.

The night Messiah was betrayed occurred during the early evening of the 14th day of the first month. This is when we are mandated to partake of the bread and the wine. (For a time-line of the NT Passover events, see my Passover chart. And, for further study also read Josiah's Passover.)